High-profile Melbourne lawyer and wife referred to legal regulator
A string of judges have criticised Pat Lennon and his lawyer wife, in cases involving the high interest lending business she runs.
Victoria
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A judge has referred high-profile Melbourne lawyer Pat Lennon and his wife Jane to the legal regulator alleging they deliberately misled the Supreme Court in a lawsuit over a high-interest lending business.
Mr Lennon has acted for Mick Gatto and is facing ice possession and trafficking charges and wife Jane is the sole director of high interest loans company Argyle Lending, which lends money sourced from others, including former jockey Danny Nikolic and Gatto’s son-in-law Danny Awad, at interest rates of 20% and up.
The Sunday Herald Sun can reveal the judge’s referral came in one of four cases in the past two years where courts have struck out claims over property by the Lennons, the company, or associates including Nikolic and Awad, who faces serious drugs charges.
But Legal Services Commissioner Fiona McLeay has yet to take any disciplinary action against the pair.
A Supreme Court judge last month confirmed in open court that she’s referred the Lennons to the lawyer watchdog.
Separately, Mr Lennon faces drug possession and trafficking charges after allegedly being caught with 11 grams of methamphetamine in 2020, as well as bankruptcy proceedings brought by two barristers who claim to be owed $54,000 in unpaid fees.
Mr Lennon is suing the Herald Sun for defamation over a story that referred to his criminal charges.
In a June 17 judgment, Supreme Court Associate Justice Patricia Matthews said she would refer Jane Lennon — also a lawyer — to Ms McLeay because she swore an affidavit that contained “deliberately misleading content”.
The judge also referred Mr Lennon, who ran the case for Argyle, to the commissioner, saying his “conduct raises similar concerns”.
Her concerns included that Mr Lennon breached his obligations to the court — to act honestly, not lie, and not make claims that lack a proper basis — through his conduct of the case on behalf of Argyle and two people who supplied money to the company to be lent out.
One day earlier, on June 16, Associate Justice Matthews made a ruling in a separate case ordering the removal of caveats Mr Lennon, Argyle Lending and Mr Awad had slapped over millions of dollars worth of property.
Awad is currently on bail and planning a holiday to Queensland as he awaits a retrial of charges of attempting to possess 22kgs of cocaine police allege was smuggled into Australia in printers.
In other cases heard since 2020, judges have found that Mr Lennon lodged a mortgage without proper authorisation and failed to comply with court orders, ruled that Argyle took steps to frustrate court proceedings and struck out a deal where a woman guaranteed debts to his old firm, Lennon Mazzeo, run up by her bankrupt brother.
A spokesperson for Ms McLeay did not respond directly to detailed questions but said the commissioner was “aware of the matters you have raised with us in relation to Patrick and Jane Lennon”.
Reached for comment by email, Mr Lennon said: “Ur funny.”
2000 COMPLAINTS ABOUT LAWYERS IN VICTORIA
Despite almost 2000 complaints about lawyers in Victoria in the past two years, just one in a thousand was banned from the profession.
Statistics from the Victorian Legal Services Commissioner’s annual reports show that between 2019 and 2021 there were 1891 complaints about Victorian lawyers but just two were struck off — including disgraced Lawyer X, Nicola Gobbo.
The low rate has led to concerns about the effectiveness of the regulation of lawyers.
Consumer Action Law Centre chief executive Gerard Brody said he was concerned about the lack of transparency and consumer protection in legal regulation.
“The Legal Services Board, unlike other regulators, is restrained from making any comment about investigations under its Act,” he said.
“That means it can’t necessarily meet the need for us to know it is taking action in matters like the one a judge has referred to them.
“A lot of occupational licensing regimes are more focused on protection of the occupation rather than consumer protection.”
A spokesperson for the Legal Services Commissioner said five lawyers were struck off since the beginning of 2019.
Originally published as High-profile Melbourne lawyer and wife referred to legal regulator
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